For those of you who haven’t been to Edinburgh - you should go - it’s a lovely city. For those of you who have never been to the festival - you should go!!

We had a really good long weekend in Edinburgh and despite the rain, saw some really talented and creative people. Edinburgh is so historic and beautiful and the buzz of the festival was amazing. We saw my brother in a musical - Hair. We saw loads of street entertainers, the Military tattoo, an improvised musical (which was incredible!) and soaked up the atmosphere and the rain!!

Oliver’s musical

Mine and Sam’s tent - and my Dad!

Me, my mum and afternoon tea!

The Military Tattoo in the castle (and the rain!)

A group from a Taiwanese high school - they’re so wet!!

The rain!!!

No, it’s not a water ride or a log flume or the boat on Niagra falls - it’s British summertime!

A nicer day

Street theatre

my brother performing in ‘Hair’.

The Castle

I don’t think anyone would succeed invading that castle!

Meeting for dinner with Geoffrey and Christine, our cyberspace community friends!

All in all a fantastic holiday!!

I haven’t posted for ages. Partly because we have no internet access at home at the moment. Lots has happened from the Watson’s visiting, to our house being renovated, to an incredible VOX night…

Our house is currently a mess. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better! We are living in one room which is packed with furniture. The thing that keeps me going is that our house will eventually look great!! The builders are plastering, hacking stuff off, opening up our fireplace. Then….we can decorate! That’s the fun bit. I keep sneezing from breathing in dust!

Here are some photos of the past fortnight.

Fun with the Watson’s on a rare sunny, free from floods day

VOX event

Our house in its current state!

The Lounge

Our bedroom

Life really is an adventure - a messy one but exciting all the same!!

I’m currently sitting at home after attempting to go to work. I tried b ut all the roads are shut going out of the city because of the risk that the dam might break and wash us all away! It’s a real crisis situation. I met other people from the hospital who were trying really hard to get to work but had to give up and come home. I hope the water subsides and I really hope the dam holds otherwise it’ll drown 3 villages and cause lots of damage.

Here’s the place I was trying to get to this morning

I’m really glad this isn’t my car!

This is our local football stadium. No games here for a while I don’t think

Our lovely city looking very wet

I’ve never been more grateful to be living on a hill

The rain has stopped for now so hopefully it’ll start to subside. In the meantime, I’d better do some work. I am realising that I would be rubbish at working from home all the time!

So here I am in Sheffield, and Sam’s in LA. I really want to be in LA too. All the people Sam is meeting and catching up with (I have Woo jealousy!). I hope you come back inspired and energised and full of new ideas!! I look forward to getting Origins, Ethos and Strengthsfinder bullet points through you!

Today I came home from work early because I don’t feel very well. I’m a bit snotty and tired and headachey. I slept this afternoon so feel a bit better. This is just the sort of time when you need a husband to give you a big cuddle and make you lots of cups of tea. But mine won’t be back for a few days. I’m going to spend the weekend with my Mum, Dad and brothers instead! They can make good tea.

I’ve been thinking that everyday I talk to Sam, I’ve just woken up and he probably doesn’t get the best ‘me’! I talk to him when he’s had an inspiring day, good food and is off to watch Spiderman 3!

I can’t wait to see you again honey!! I miss you loads but know that I’ll get all the info by osmosis when you get back. Hurry home. Oh, and take some pictures if you haven’t already!

I’ve been excited about my birthday for ages! When I was younger, I used to do a count down where I ticked off everyday on a specially made calendar on my wall. I would start……. after Christmas!. That’s 3 months of counting down!

I’m not quite as bad now but I look forward to birthdays so much! This morning I woke up at 7am in an apartment in Buxton with Sam. He’d laid all my presents out on the sofa in the lounge with balloons. I’ve had so many lovely things and really appreciate being thought about by so many people. (My primary love language is gifts and I can remember who got me pretty much everything I own!)

My brother Russell got me an Alexander McCall Smith book set in Botswana. AND he got it signed and personalised to me by the author. I love that! Sam got me a great top and lovely jewellery. I think my favourite bit of today is that I get to spend it with loads of friends. We’re going to see Guys and Dolls at the Lyceum theatre this afternoon, then we’ve hired out a space and a pool table in a bar in town. I’ll get to see 30 friends there and can’t wait!!

When I anticipate my birthday so much, I wonder if it’ll be an anticlimax but people always surprise me with their generosity and thoughtfulness and go beyond my expectations. I hope I can do the same for others.

In the meantime…Happy Birthday Me!!!!!!

It’s been the craziest week ever this week. We had to move out of our house before having anywhere to go! We’ve been going to work, getting home late and packing, cleaning, sortng. We’ve done a week of 17 hour days with no break to get everything out before the new people move in.

There was a time when I thought I might curl up into a corner and wait for it all to be over! We’ve moved in with friends and left our house behind, with everything we own stored until we get our own house. It was sad to leave our house behind, so many memories, so many people have passed through. We’ve seen people become friends, watched people grow and become, had so many fun parties, meals, celebrations. I’ll miss it, but as I left, as sad as I felt, it’s not our home anymore. It was empty and bare. I like to think that it’ll miss our lives and activity. I feel like it’s absorbed a little bit of every person who’s passed through the door.

Now we are nomads. We can go anywhere and do anything cos we have very little to take with us! I really hope that we hear soon when we can move into our new house. In the meantime, I’m convinced that there are things we will learn in this time, people who we will connect with and other people’s food we can eat!!

At the moment we’re away with the Mosaic Sheffield team eating blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

Here’s to the next bit of the adventure of life….

Our empty house

Well, so far the story of moving into our new house has had it’s ups and downs. We were moving in January, then February, now….who knows?! It could be a while. One thing we do know is that we have to get out of the house we’re renting.

So…. I’m feeling a bit homeless! We’re packing up all of our stuff to put in storage and planning to stay with friends but we don’t yet know for how long. I don’t like not knowing. I like planning and timescales and having a house that you can call your own.

I really wanted to move from this house which I love so much into a new one. It’s only half a mile down the road but now we have to move everything we own into the city centre, then go and get it when we eventually get there.

Maybe it’ll be an adventure, being nomads for a while, only taking what you need and nothing else. We have very kind friends who have offered us a bed so really, we’re more fortunate than a lot of people.

We’ll keep going and we’ll get there eventually…

Our current house

Our new house (hopefully!)

We should find out soon how long it’ll be til we move - months, weeks… We’ll keep you posted!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I came downstairs this morning to a lovely bunch of flowers from my lovely husband!

This evening we had a Soul Cravings ‘Intimacy’ night themed around chocolate where people came over to chat about Soul Cravings and eat chocolate fondue! We’re doing 3 themed night around different cravings, the first being chocolate!

It was a fun night chatting about how the whole world craves intimacy. We had four cultures represented (out of 7 people) and discovered that every person in every culture behaves in a way that shows how much people crave intimacy and are scared they won’t get it.

I really like chocolate! It was a brilliant way to spend valentines day night! Tomorrow Sam and I go on a date just the two of us. Hopefully I still get to eat chocolate. Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about?! Love, red stuff and chocolate?

Here’s some pics:

My flowers

Our fondue

I wonder what the next cravings party will be?!

What things do you crave? Any ideas?

Well, we’re back from Florida. It’s so nice to be home and I want to go back all at the same time! Especially cos of the weather. It’s wet and cold in England. I don’t like being wet but I like the weather because I know I’m at home. I feel it!

We had so much fun in Orlando. I loved the time we got to spend with people who have become and are becoming some of the best friends we have. We experienced again so much generosity, understanding and permission to live and dream. The best thing is,the relationships we have continue online in cyberspace so we never really say good bye. We still miss you all though!!

Here are some of my favourite pictures….

Our day in Animal Kingdom

A night at the House Blend Cafe

Freaky fish at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney

..and lovely people

Me, Pooh and friends…

Awesome dancing at Humana

Awesome times with the IMN guys

What a fantastic time.

And now, we’re home. I love that too

It’s still pretty FREEZING in Orlando. It’s probably warmer than England but not by much and I haven’t packed for consistent coldness. Lucky I’m going shopping with Niza today! And lucky we brought an extra suitcase for all my purchases (Sam, if you’re reading, I’m only joking!)!

Yesterday we had a lot of fun at the beach. You’d think we were standing next to the North Sea, not the Atlantic, but there you go! I hat catfish for the first time today, with scallops and shrimps, baked sweet potato and hush puppies (not shoes, corn type fried dumpling ball things).. Oh, and I had Clam chowder. That’s a new one too - very nice! AND, you got your lemonade in a jam jar!

Here’s my dinner!

and my lemonade in a jam jar!

There’s something about the sea that makes you feel really small. And, on this occasion, very cold!

It was great to have communion on the beach and pray for each other. That was a very profound and priceless experience

Our day was finished off by the Superbowl - what a new and different experience! It was nice to be part of an American institution and now I understand some rules other than what I learned from ‘Jerry Maguire’!

Right, I’d better go and shop - it’s a hard life!